Russian causes unrest in Ukraine

Ukraine's parliament in early June rushed through a contentious draft law upgrading the use of Russian in the country, sparking scuffles between deputies of the pro-government majority and those of the opposition who were caught off-guard. Reuters /

A new bill adopted by the Ukrainian parliament (Supreme Rada) gives Russian official status in nearly half of Ukraine’s regions. But not all Ukrainian lawmakers back the decision.

In response to the bill giving the Russian
language an official status in Ukraine,
the local opposition has taken to Kiev's streets to protest against the Ukrainian parliament’s
decision. The rally brought together more than 3 thousand people and turned into clashes with police firing teargas on protesters. Supreme Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and his deputy Mykola Tomenko announced their resignation over the bill on Wednesday.

On July 3, the Ukrainian
parliament, the Supreme Rada, passed a bill to give the Russian language
official status in almost half of Ukraine’s regions. The vote on the bill was
so intense that a fistfight broke out among lawmakers and protests have been
called against the bill in Kiev. If the bill is signed by President Viktor
Yanukovich, it will become law starting in January.

At the moment, Ukrainian
is the only official language in the country. The new bill, however, will give
Russian equal status with Ukrainian in schools, universities and state
institutions in nearly half of Ukraine’s regions. Certificates, passports and
other documents will have to be issued in two languages. The bill offers such a
status to other languages as well, provided they are spoken by at least 10
percent of a region’s population.

The Rada needed three
attempts to pass the bill; eventually 248 parliamentarians out of 450 voted in
favor of the law. The MPs representing the majority started applauding.

“The opposition tried to
block the measure. They tore my shirt again. Some of my party fellows were
injured slightly. They broke some microphones and chairs,” said Vadim
Kolesnichenko, a Rada member from the ruling Party of Regions in an interview
with Izvestia. “Yet, in spite of everything, the document has been passed and
will appear on the President’s table in two or three weeks. Viktor Yanukovich
will definitely sign it; I have no doubt. The law will come into effect
starting 1 January 2013.”

Vladimir Fesenko, head of
the Ukrainian Centre for International & Policy Studies Penta, calls the
adoption of the bill a “tactical move” for the pro-presidential Party of
Regions, whose electoral base includes millions of Russian speakers.

The expert also has no
doubt that incumbent President Viktor Yanukovich will pass the bill.

Yanukovich pledged to
boost the status of Russian to a second official language during his 2004
presidential campaign; even so, he admitted after his election in 2010 that he
did not have enough supporters in parliament to get the amendment through at
that time.

Leonid Slutsky, head of
the Russian State Duma Committee for the CIS said the law on the status of the
Russian language would encourage development of Russian-Ukrainian relations.

Vladimir Kornilov,
Director of the Ukrainian office of the Institute for CIS Countries, says, however,
that it is premature to consider the law a major victory for the
Russia-speaking population of Ukraine, because Russian is yet to be given the
status of a second state language.

“The language issue won’t
be resolved until this has been done”, Kornilov said.

According to a recent
poll by the Rating public opinion service, the Ukrainian population is split
almost evenly over the issue of upgrading Russian to a state language: 46
percent of respondents are against such a move, while 45 percent are in favor;
8 percent remain undecided. Support for the move is primarily in the east and
south of Ukraine, the home of most of the country’s Russian speakers. For
example, 84 percent of respondents in
the Donets Basin approved of the bill.